Magic & Mechanics
by Yiroma
Summary: MOVIEVERSE. HP crossover. When a Transformer crashes into Harry Potter’s garden, neither wizard nor machine know exactly what they’re letting themselves in for. Especially one unsuspecting Barricade.
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters. Obviously. They belong to their owners respectively, and have been mashed together only in this odd fanfiction you see before you._

_IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTES: I apologise to big/huge Transformer fans. It will become startlingly obvious I know very little about anything which doesn't occur in the movie as the story progresses. Please, feel free to give me more accurate character profiles, etc as I continue. _

_**NEW MATERIAL! **Well, I'm sure you'll notice as you continue. This story has been revamped! Enjoy the new-ness, the extra's, and the added backstory, which was really bothering me._

* * *

Can mankind honestly believe that there is little to learn about the world around them anymore? Little that hasn't been discovered, and even less which doesn't have a scientific fact behind it? Regardless of whether this is true or not about the Earth, isn't it short-sighted to believe that beyond this world there is nothing comparable to our planet and ourselves? For all the sceptics that exist, there is sure to be a very big surprise coming.

That is, if it isn't already here.

**PROLOGUE:**

A Life in Peace?

_Six Earth Months Ago_

"I'm worried about you Harry," a voice said from the doorway.

From where he was packing up his trunk, Harry turned to look at the brown haired girl stood watching him, arms folded across her chest. "Hermione…" Harry said. "Please, just give it a rest."

The witch's expression hardened. "I _can't _Harry. _We _can't. What you're doing, it isn't the answer."

At once he felt annoyed. _Why does she always try to read so much into everything? Can't she take anything I say at face value?_ "I don't know what you mean," he said out loud. "What's wrong with taking a break for a while?"

"A break?" she parroted back to him disbelievingly. "A holiday to France is a break, a trip to the seaside is a break: buying a house in the middle of nowhere and fixing it up to live in is something completely different."

He chose to ignore her, instead turning his attention to the broomstick in his hands. Would he need it? Unfortunately, probably not. Though he had no neighbours for miles, it was still a Muggle area. He laid it down on the bed and went on to something else.

"Do you see what I mean?" Hermione asked suddenly. "Don't you think I can tell what you're planning to do?" Harry glanced at her, only to see she was looking rather pointedly at the broomstick. "You're leaving everything magical behind. And the house, it's so normal, so full of electronic things. Can't you see, running from the Wizarding World isn't the answer?"

"I'm not running," he said stiffly. "I just need to get out on my own a bit now that Hogwarts is over and done with. And I'm not leaving everything magical behind- I'm still taking my wand with me, and the Invisibility Cloak!"

"Harry, that wand even goes to in the bath with you, I've no doubt you'd at least take that! But you ought to be looking for a job, or further training," Hermione insisted, not feeling the need to explain how she knew anything about his bathing activities. "If you wait too long to continue, you might decide not to bother and that'll be a waste of your education…" The girl trailed off, frowning. "Now look what you've made me do."

"What? Made you think I was Ron?" Harry teased. "Besides, I'm not running- I told you where the house was, didn't I? And I let you put those wards up, even though they'll fry anything electrical I don't carry through that tiny gap you left!"

"And Ron and I can visit whenever we want I'm sure," Hermione agreed. "But Harry, there's more than one type of running away, and you're not fooling anyone." She was silent for a moment, trying to organise her thoughts. "I've seen you, at night, pacing. And during the day sometimes you just wander around for hours, or you go play mechanic with Sirius' old bike, trying to fill the time any way you can. Harry, don't you think the rest of us feel the same way you do?" she asked. "We still miss all the people who died and-"

"Yes," Harry cut in, "but you didn't _die,_ did you Hermione?"

If she hadn't known the event he was referring to, she could have taken great insult to that comment. As it was she simply fell silent and watched him debate over what to do with a Sneaker-scope.

It was difficult to ignore her when she was so intent though. "I just need a break Hermione. Just for a little while. I suppose I'm a bit confused right now, but everything will be fine after I try being normal for a change."

_I just need something to distract me, take me away from all this, _he added silently. T_hese thoughts I've been having… Maybe it will make them go away… _

_-_

_Three Earth Months Ago_

Two teenagers were sat outside Florean Fortescue's Ice cream Parlour in Diagonalley in the busiest part of the afternoon. Spoons clanged against glass bowls as they ate made their way through two large Tuesday ice cream specials, complete with non-melting charms to stop it from spoiling under the roasting autumn sunshine.

"Thanks for coming," Ron Weasley said to his best friend. "Though, you know, Hermione would be furious if she saw you here under that spell."

Harry shrugged as he ate another spoonful of ice-cream. The Notice-Me-Not Charm was a real blessing when the last thing you wanted was the stares and whispers of passers-by. When people glanced over to see the teenagers eating, their eyes would simply slide away again and they would continue on their way.

"Well, if you don't tell her I won't either," Harry said with a grin, and received one in response from the red-head. "The last thing I need is Hermione on my case about something else as well."

The third part of their trio was something of a sore point for Harry at the minute. Just last month, the two had undergone a major blowout and hadn't spoken since. The black haired wizard knew that that put Ron in a tight spot as, for once, he simply wanted to remain neutral in the disagreement betwenn his friend and his girlfriend.

It didn't help that the argument was over trivial things (well, at least as far as Harry could see it was). Had they still been at Hogwarts, the argument would already have been patched over by their forced close proximity, but as things stood, the two of them had been avoiding each other ever since.

At Harry's brief mention of the argument, Ron's face fell. "It's just that she worries about what you're doing on your own, you know," the other teen felt the need to explain on his girlfriend's behalf.

Six months ago, when Harry had moved out the Burrow, feeling he had encroached on their hospitality long enough, his reasons for leaving had been pretty firm in his own mind. Just because he hadn't felt the need to explain them didn't mean he didn't have them. And things which had developed even more over the next three months had made him certain there was no way he would consider going back. Really, people should just take his word for it. Wasn't he normally right about these sorts of things?

"I'm nineteen years old Ron," Harry reminded Ron, his tone a little sharper than he had intended. "Hermione should know I can do whatever I want when I'm on my own!"

The red head seemed to struggle with an equally sharp response of his own before he finally managed to suppress it. Harry was surprised- Ron was normally more of a hot-head than even him, easy to anger and quick to take offence, especially on his girlfriend's behalf. It seemed his best friend had really grown up this past year and for a moment he wondered how he had failed to see it before.

"I know that," Ron admitted. "And she knows that as well. But the truth is, even though she knows it, she just wants to do what's best for you. If that means inviting you for dinner every Sunday and hastling you about finding work, then that's what she'll do."

"And it is every Sunday," Harry said, trying to inject some humour into his tone.

To his relief, Ron smiled. "No kidding mate. Though, you know, you might want to take us up on one of those offers. My cooking has really improved since Hermione made me take all those lessons with Mum."

Harry felt a genuine smile tug at his lips. "I'll take your word for it then."

It was odd really to think how much his two friends had achieved really. Ron was training to be an Auror, a position the government had quickly snapped him up for due to his past experiences, something Harry had once suggested would be his own ideal career. Ron's strategic thinking had put him ahead of the other trainees, many of whom were older than he was. Meanwhile, Hermione had gone into Advanced Learning, something that not many people did in the Wizarding World, as it was an invitation only affair. Her teacher came highly recommended, what with being the son of Nicholas Flammel himself. Together, the two of them were renting a flat over a shop here in Diagonalley, and Harry wouldn't have been surprised if the two of them didn't tie the knot sooner or later.

Harry stired his spoon round his ice cream bowl. "But yeah, you two sure have managed to achieve a lot this year. You're doing really well for yourselves."

_And what have I done in that time? Well, I'd of managed a lot more if it wasn't for the fact that-_

Harry wondered if Ron had been thinking the exact same thing, for the next second he had fixed an oddly serious expression onto his face as he spoke to his friend.

"It took a lot of effort, you know?" Ron said. "It wasn't easy, but I didn't want to let Mum and Dad down, not after… Well, everything that happened."

Harry felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as he remembered 'everything that happened'. The Weasley's had suffered a lot during Voldemort's second rise to power, and he couldn't help but feel guilty every time it was brought to his attention.

"I mean, I had to work hard at it, I'm not really as good as you or Hermione," Ron continued on, unaware of Harry's sombre thoughts. "I mean, it's not as if I had anything to fall back on if I failed. My family doesn't have a lot and I didn't want to rely on their money. I couldn't afford to mope around the house-"

"Unlike me," Harry bit out. Suddenly, he was aware of where this conversation was going. Sure, it was in a more roundabout way, but it was the same spiel everyone else kept feeding him.

Ron looked shocked for a moment. "No mate, that's not what I-"

"Why did you bring me here, Ron?" Harry demanded. "Was it just so you could hash me out for Hermione? You spend so much time with her, you're starting to sound just like her."

Ron's eyes narrowed. "Well, you'll just have to get used to it," the red head bit out. "See, I wondered if you wanted to be the best man. I've asked Hermione to marry me, and she said yes. The wedding is in four month's time."

Harry blinked in surprise. _What?_

However, it was too late for Harry to ask any questions about that fact. "You know what?" Ron said. "If you ever actually decide to stop playing the martyr, as if you're the only one who did anything to stop V-Voldemort last year, you'll actually remember that we're all supposed to be your friends. There are plenty of people worrying about you Harry, like me and Hermione, and my Mum, even Ginny, though who knows why after the way you treated her!"

"I didn't ask them to worry about me!" Harry snapped, so angry he couldn't even think past Ron's first words to form a proper argument. _Stop playing the martyr, stop playing the martyr, stop playing the martyr._

"You don't have to ask! We're your friends; we treat you just like family even! When you stop acting so self-centred, why don't you come help plan the wedding? And maybe you can put a bit of effort into actually being alive, and stop acting as if it's the worst thing that ever happened to you, that you actually survived!"

During his speech Ron had stood up quickly, knocking his chair back against the empty table behind theirs. Harry stared at him in disbelief, torn between surprise and the growing undercurrent of anger.

"When you're ready to be my best friend again," Ron finished, "you know where to find me." Then he turned and walked away, back ramrod straight. Though he hadn't completely lost his temper the whole time he spoke, the red of his ears that was visible as he left indicated just how angry he really was.

Even as the other teen disappeared into the milling crowd, Harry continued to sit there staring at his melting pool of ice cream. With Ron gone, there was no one to yell at in response to the insults that had been thrown at him. Why couldn't everyone just mind their own business! Why did they feel the need to poke their noses where they weren't needed or wanted! Had Harry ever told them how they ought to go about living their lives? No, never, and he wasn't ever going to! So why did he have to sit here, and listen to accusations of being lazy, anti-social and anything else they could think of to tack on him? A martyr, him? When did he have a chance to die? No, people were always bothering him, needing something from him- always, always, always! Why couldn't they understand that what he was doing was for the best? Why didn't everyone just-

There was the sudden sound of glass smashing, followed by shocked screams. Harry looked quickly round in surprise, only to see the other customers sat at the ice cream parlour were the one's responsible. On all the tables arranged out the front of the shop, the glasses had suddenly shattered, spraying the people nearby with glass shards and droplets of ice cream. People had jumped up away from their tables, and were asking each other what had happened. Then one little girl started crying as she held out her bleeding palm to her father.

Harry stared around in surprise and guilt. _I know I was angry but… No, surely not-_

_-_

_7__th__ October, England _

Harry sat staring at the surface of his pond for a long time. Every now and then, a sunbeam would break across the water and blind his eyes, but, fortunately, he was not relying on them for this particular exercise.

_One life form, two life forms, three, there's four… Nine. Nine for sure._ The young wizard furrowed his brow as he concentrated. _That's the large life forms- probably the koi carp. Smaller?_

This time, the sensing worked faster and easier. _Twenty-three smaller, probably insects. Over six dozen plants- _

-**Feel the movement of oxygen in and out, the shift of particles in the air-**

_-Even smaller, there are over a thousand small organisms just drifting in the water. _

**-Bacteria, single-celled organisms moving through the decaying matter. Digesting, multiplying, shifting through the water all the time-**

_But how many exactly? Millions! Millions and millions!_

**-The water itself, molecules made up of hydrogen and oxygen. Simple. So simple. Each molecule with the ability to join to another, making up the pond, and letting more complicated molecules, which made up organics, pass through it. It was a universe all of its own. Thousands of things happening in such a small space-**

With a start, Harry's eyes snapped open. Sweat ran down his forehead and dripped onto his eye, making him blink and shiver. He flopped backwards onto the grass, feeling as if all the strength in his body had drained out of it. The book that had previously been in his lap tumbled to the ground next to him.

"Merlin," he muttered to himself, before running a hand down his face. _And I was so close that time too._

Then he had nearly lost himself in the stream of life playing itself out before him. The temptation to lose himself within it had been almost overwhelming. But no, that wasn't his goal, not at all.

_Control,_ he thought, _I have to learn more control. I can't let this thing in me take me over._

His eyes glanced towards the old book. It was so ancient, the cover had almost disappeared entirely, and the writing was purely in Ancient Greek. To progress this far, he'd first had to learn the language, which had been surprisingly simple in the Muggle World, and didn't come with any awkward questions. To be honest, the whole book had been a gamble. It was the only text he had managed to get hold of about the subject back when it had been practiced quite freely, before it was decided to be far too dangerous to be used so carelessly. He had had to pay a large sum of money for it, and probably to some people who would use the money for not-so-savoury purposes. Unfortunately, he hadn't had a lot of choice in the matter, though the feeling of blending in well with the Malfoys was present every time he thought too much about it.

Now, all he had to do was master the contents, and as quickly as possible.

His intention to give up on the magical world for a while had done him no good. When he had wanted nothing better than to disappear for a while, even more problems had cropped up. But he could handle it on his own. He could, and he _would_.

It had started with his wand, when it had once acted without him even thinking, to cast a spell to protect him from Voldemort. As he and Hagrid fled from him on an enchanted motorbike at what would have been the beginning of Harry's seventh year, his magic had first shown signs of what it was capable of.

Since then, his abilities had been expanding at a furious rate. At that time, it had been through his wand, but now, not even that was necessary. He was plagued by accidental magic, all the time, all around him. Not even training his magic to go through a wand as every other witch and wizard did had helped. Driven by his emotions since Voldemort's second rise, Harry knew he had trouble controlling them, and, as a consequence, his magic. However, it was only the incident from three months ago (one of the last times he had seen Ron), and a few similar ones, that had finally convinced him to do something about it.

_I need to be isolated until I can work this out,_ he thought. _I want to know what I'm capable of, what I can do with this. And how to do it without hurting anyone._

After a few minutes, Harry finally climbed slowly to his feet. It took a lot of energy, even for Sensing, the third technique in the book. The aim was attune oneself with nature, before moving on to altering and shaping it. It wasn't the same thing as learning to stop accidental magic, but he hoped the control that came with this would carry over to that as well.

At least he had done a good job of driving everyone away. The thought brought a grim smile to his lips. It had been one argument after another, even before it had become obvious to him that his magic was out of control. But they had served their purpose. Now, he was free to do what he liked, whenever he liked.

_Am I hiding now Hermione? I don't think so. After all, there's no one left to hide from. _

At least he had the house. Staggering towards it, Harry was immensely grateful he had gone out on a limb and bought it seven months ago. Even if it had been one of the main causes of contention between him and Hermione, it had been totally worth it. All his life, he had been going to _other_ people homes, or to the Dursleys, or to Grimmauld Place, where there were too many bad memories for it ever to be somewhere he could feel truly comfortable. Now, at last, this place was his.

It had two floors, a back garden with a pond, a garage with Sirius' old motorbike inside, and Hermione's ridiculous wards. He owned it, all his meagre possessions were all kept inside. Eventually, he was sure, he would make it feel like a real home.

- -

Naturally, as pleased as Harry was with the future potential of his house, it was understandable that he was more than a little annoyed when all the rear windows were blown out at ten past three in the morning.

Jerking upright in bed, the sounds of shattering glass ringing in his ears, Harry snatched his glasses up from the night stand and stared in surprise at the hole where there had once been a pane of glass. Hundreds of shinning slivers dotted the carpet and even his duvet, blinking with an orange glow that shone in from outside.

The young wizard's heart was hammering in his chest, a novel experience for someone who had found themselves practically incapable of being frightened by threats to his person; this being the result of willingly walking to his own death at Voldemort's hands just over a year ago. He quickly drew his wand from where he still slept with it under his pillow and padded across the floor, banishing away any glass that got in his way.

A cold breeze ruffled his hair as he stared out at what had once been his back garden. Molly Weasley had come round herself to plant a vegetable plot for him, and that section had been a mass of flourishing green shoots only a few minutes ago. Next to that there had been a small pond, where Luna had claimed all manner of unusual creatures had taken up home. Now, however, neither was visible. Instead, there was a rather large crater, with steam rising from where the pond water had evaporated as a result of some great heat.

"Bloody hell," he muttered lowly, his hand tightening around the wand in his hand.

Even as he spoke however, an even stranger sight met his eyes. A creature suddenly stood up from the crater. It was tall, easily bigger than his house, and its grey body glimmered in the moonlight. It was a mass of curving shapes made from wires and metal plating, and was even vaguely human-like in body structure. There was nothing else human about it though- or magical either, for that matter. A plated head swivelled to glance in his direction, and glowing eye sockets met with a startled green.

* * *

A few things I wanted to mention and point out. Please, feel free to throw your comments out there.

1. Pairings? At the moment, I'm saying none, only friendships, etc.

2. Harry!AU. Well, it is, isn't it? The Epilogue has been completely hacked to bits (so perhaps no Harry/Ginny, that is one idea that won't work for the moment- notice, she isn't in the story, at all). This actually isn't really anything you need to add anything to, I just thought I'd throw it out there so people knew that was my stance. Everything before the Epilogue is pretty much how J.K.R wrote it though.


	2. Chapter One: Visitors from Heaven

_**Disclaimer:** I don't own these characters. Obviously. They belong to their owners respectively, and have been mashed together only in this odd fanfiction you see before you._

_IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTES: I apologise to big/huge Transformer fans. It will become startlingly obvious I know very little about anything which doesn't occur in the movie as the story progresses. Please, feel free to give me more accurate character profiles, etc as I continue. _

_**NEW MATERIAL! **Well, I'm sure you'll notice as you continue. This story has been revamped! Enjoy the new-ness, the extra's, and the added backstory, which was really bothering me._

* * *

"_And a mighty voice will send a message, summoning forth visitors from Heaven!"  
_X Bumblebee, talking through the radio

"Die! Autobot scum!"

Across empty space streaks of crimson light shot towards the slowly manoeuvring target. Grey body armour crunched on impact from the attack. A robotic arm targeted the swiftly moving Decepticon, before releasing several blasts in return, only one of which hit the mark.

"You look damaged Wheeljack!" Thundercracker remarked jubilantly as he easily swept from side to side to avoid each one. "This battle will be over soon enough!"

Far below them (but moving ever closer), a blue and green planet rotated slowly on its axis.

Stuck in his mech form, Wheeljack frowned. For once, this was a battle he could do without. He was ill-prepared, his body having been stripped of extra casing for preparation to go into the landing sequence. Left without any proper armour or weaponry he was clearly at a disadvantage in this battle.

The Decepticon was already in his alternate form (an aircraft Wheeljack hadn't seen since his days on Cybertron) and had speed on his side. Unlike the Autobot, he hadn't been planning to enter the atmosphere. Thundercracker had been ordered to ambush any Autobots that entered the system from this direction, as they responded to a signal from Optimus Prime that the Decepticons had discovered whilst hacking into the Autobot communication frequency.

_"I am Optimus Prime, and I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars: We are here, we are waiting." _

It was imperative that the Autobot Commander should not be able to rally his troops to this place, and Thundercracker had been one of the Decepticons chosen to prevent it. His wing brother Skywarp was somewhere on the other side of this planet, ordered to do the same. It was a mission they had no intention of failing.

Whirling round for a final barrage, the Decepticon got the Autobot mechanic firmly in his sights. Wheeljack stared the Cybertron jet down as it drew closer, already powering up his booster packs. This wasn't the way he thought the battle would go, but if he had to use it-

"It ends here!"

There was a huge explosion in the blackness of space. Had any earth telescopes been pointing in that direction it would have been clearly visible to them.

When the brilliant flash had faded, there were three mechs floating in space.

"Prowl!" Wheeljack greeted the new Autobot warmly. "It's good to see a familiar face in this part of space!"

"Yes," Prowl agreed simply, as close-mouthed as always. The Autobot was in his normal form and bristling with weapons. It was a pleasing sight for any injured Autobot.

"You got here just in time to save my aft," the mechanic said.

Thundercracker quickly adjusted back to his larger form, realising this was probably going to end up in melee combat and that his aerial acrobatics would serve him no use. The Decepticon snarled, feeling the parts in his left arm click uncomfortably as he tried to move it. His processors flashed warnings about a small energon leak from a disconnected cableunder his elbow. "Swarming like filthy insects! Soundwave was right about that!"

The Autobots exchanged a looks at this information.

"Soundwave?" Wheeljack wondered aloud. _Is it possible that Megatron is here for his most loyal officer to come to this part of the universe? _

"It would be best," Prowl said, as the two Autobots considered the implications of this news, "if you entered the planet's atmosphere while I deal with Thundercracker. You are too injured to fight and it is important you tell Prime that Soundwave is in this part of the galaxy."

Wheeljack hesitated. The other Autobot wasn't known for saying something illogical, but it didn't make it any easier to hear. "What if there are more Decepticons in the area?" he demanded.

"Then your termination will be assured," Prowl told him calmly, before turning to meet a sudden attack from Thundercracker.

A volley of shots passed between the two soldiers, and Wheeljack reluctantly fell back. It was obvious Prowl had the advantage over the Decepticon, and Wheeljack began shifting his form for a final time, his body compressing in on itself until it formed a pod-like shape. With a burst of energy, he launched himself towards the atmosphere, confident he would be protected from the fierce heat that his body would be subjected to upon entry.

"Don't think you can runaway!" the furious Decepticon yelled. The next moment all his communication systems went down, and the pod shook and wobbled off its trajectory as several blasts from Thundercracker's cannon scorched along its side. The distance between the target and his attacker had weakened the shots somewhat, and the pod still managed to continue on its way. There was a blaze of light as it sizzled through the atmosphere.

Miles off course, the Autobot Wheeljack- now resembling a fiery comet- streaked towards one of the land masses. At increasing speeds, he hurtled towards one of the smaller landmasses, attempting to broadcast emergency signals on any communication channel left open to him. Blue sea disappeared entirely as the ground hurried in closer, until at last the shell smashed through the tops of several large trees. There was a sudden crackle of what seemed almost like electricity, before the Autobot at last crashed into the earth.

**CHAPTER ONE:  
**Visitors from Heaven

_  
A plated head swivelled to glance in his direction, and glowing eye sockets met with a startled green. _They simply stared at each other for a long moment, neither moving.

His heart pounding, the black haired wizard dropped his eyes to take in what was stood before him. He had never seen anything like it before. Was it magical? But then he thought it reminded him too much of a robot, something from a program his cousin might have watched on television when they were younger. It was all cogs, gears and metal plating, interspersed with pumps and wires which hummed and fizzed. It was possibly even more shocking than anything he had seen in the Wizarding World, in particular the height, which dwarfed his house by many feet. It probably, he realised, even put the giants to shame.

Stood at the window in pyjamas, holding only his wand, The-Boy-Who-Lived was feeling more than a little unprepared if he had to fight this thing.

It turned out, however, that that wouldn't be necessary. After regarding him with blue optics for several seconds, the robot turned and walked away. The large feet, looking a little similar to those of birds, trampled all over the lawn as it headed in the opposite direction from the house.

The teenage wizard stared after it in surprise. _It's not going to attack? Then… it crashed here by accident? _

All things considered, Harry would have been pleased just to let the 'robot' leave. Though his garden had been ruined, there was, at that point, still a chance he might get through the night relatively unscathed.

That idea was ruined a mere moment later when the robot suddenly stopped only seconds later; there was a flair of brilliant blue and a sound from the robot in a high pitched, garbled voice, before the ground shook as the thing collapsed to the floor.

_What's happening?_ Harry thought in confusion as he used the windowsill to pull himself up straight, from where the bang had sent him falling to the floor on his knees.

He watched, baffled, as the mechanical body writhed, arms and legs jerking, whilst everything was streaked with glowing electric-like arcs, burning the grass nearby. The worst damage was being done to a part of the robot's chest, melting a section of the metal covering there. He wondered what could possibly be underneath, and why this was-

_Oh. _

This was a robot. A robot (as far as he knew) was an electrical machine. And it was touching magical wards. Hermione's 'one-of-a-kind' wards.

Part of her initial advanced training had been in wards, something she had already experimented with on and off during their year travelling. Before their falling out (a mild way of putting it), Harry had agreed that she could put them round his house to keep him safe from… Well, who knew what? Anyway, as such, Harry had the most powerful but temperamental wards in the whole of Britain surrounding his property. At that moment, however, as the robot keeled over onto its side, the only thing he could think of her over-protective gesture was, "I'm going to kill Hermione."

He suddenly recalled an old memory from his second year at Hogwarts. This robot was being affected the same way as Dean Thomas's CD player, on that fateful occasion when he had brought it to school with him; once it entered the highly magical area, the batteries and all the delicate boards had been overwhelmed and subsequently fried. While Harry's house _wasn't_ a highly magical area, the wards were, as (when he had attempted to grasp the explanation provided) they were made up of many spells in a giant web.

Feeling remarkably stupid, Harry quickly began to wonder how to move the large robot before its systems were shut down completely. It felt wrong to watch it twitch madly, even if it was just a machine, as it reminded him all too much of being under the Cruciatus curse. Besides, for muggle machinery, this was definitely huge step forward in technology, and it seemed a shame to let all that hard work go to waste. Also, with every thrash, the thing's leg was getting closer to kicking through his kitchen wall. …Not that that was the decisive factor or anything.

Moving quickly, Harry stumbled downstairs as fast as he could, before throwing open his back door and jumping the step to land in his demolished garden. Beneath his feet he could feel the ground trembling ever so slightly, and he marvelled that something humans had built could do such a thing.

Getting as close as he dared, the wizard wondered what he should do. A huge mechanical arm jerked and shook the ground on impact. _It's heavy, obviously, _Harry thought, _can magic move it at all? _

Concentrating, Harry pointed his wand and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!"

The body didn't even move an inch of the ground. Just like he had thought. the spell wasn't particularly effective on something so heavy. He frowned, considering what he ought to do. He could always apply the counter-measure Hermione had given him… But if he turned the wards off, and this 'robot' proved to be not quite-so-friendly anymore, he would be defenceless against it.

_Well, almost.If all it takes is a large influx of magic… I think I can provide that. _

Another shriek cut across the night, and Harry reached up to cover his ears. _Pain,_ he thought. _It almost sounds like it's screaming in pain._

After another second of hesitation, Harry made his decision.

-

Far away in Diagonalley, London, Hermione Granger sat up in bed with a start as an alarm went off from her bedside table. Beside her, Ron rolled over groggily.

"Just another half hour, Mum," he mumbled into the pillow.

Ignoring him, Hermione scrambled to open the bottom drawer, and pulled out the screaming item from inside. The tiny alarm, which looked like something from off an old police car, flashed red madly.

"What are you doing Harry?" she asked aloud. Turning to Ron, she shook his shoulder. "Ron, wake up! It's important!"

"W-What?" the red-head muttered, lifting his head to regard her with a bleary eye.

"It's Harry! He used the emergency shut down on my wards!" she explained.

Ron frowned at her. "Emergency shut-what?"

"The wards on his house Ronald!" Hermione snapped. "They're gone!"

Ron sat up, looking fully awake. "Wait, gone? But didn't _you _put them up?"

Hermione nodded in confirmation, before gesturing to the shrieking alarm that she held in her other hand. "This tells me the wards were over-ridden. I told Harry only to use the shut-down in emergencies, as he probably won't be able to put them back up without my help."

Ron stared at it for a moment before an odd expression crossed his face. "'Mione, does Harry know you placed a detection spell on his wards?"

The oddly guilty look on her face said it all. Seeing her boyfriend's disapproving expression she folded her arms in annoyance. "I did it because I was worried," she told him. "Harry's been under a lot of pressure in the last few years and I- I wanted to make sure he didn't do anything… stupid."

Ron shook his head. "Harry isn't talking to us because of that very reason. Well, that's one of the reasons. But he was never… Harry would never _kill _himself! Besides, didn't you give him the, eh- _shut down_- because he wanted to move electik things in as well?""

Hermione looked indecisive. "Well, yes, but Ron, it's nearly four o'clock in the morning!"

"And why would that mean anything to Harry? Besides, it could be for _anything_ that he took the wards down.," Ron said, more firmly this time, reaching out to touch her shoulder reassuringly.

"We should still go check!" Hermione persisted, but she was less panicked this time when she spoke.

"Turn that alarm off," Ron told her. "Just leave it until tomorrow morning already. If you charge round there now, Harry will know that you put a detection spell on him, and if anyone is likely to die, it'll be us. Aren't things bad enough already?"

Hermione shifted uncertainly, before pulling her wand out from under her pillow and tapping the alarm with it. The silence was welcome after the racket it had been making. "We're going round tomorrow," she stated firmly. "We're going to settle this pointless argument once and for all."

-

Harry lowered his wand to watch as the last traces of the wards faded in waves, reminding him of the Aurora Borealis. Immediately, the robot stopped moving, leaving it lying still on the scorched grass. There was one last arc of blue from the centre of its chest before the night fell silent again, leaving Harry staring at the robot on his lawn.

There was silence for a long moment, before a sudden creaking and whirring marked the robot climbing to its feet. The ground shook under Harry's feet, and he staggered slightly as he attempted to balance himself. _Actually, it can move pretty fast when it wants to,_ the wizard had time to think, before the robot spun to stare down at him with narrowed blue slits. It raised one arm, which Harry watched in fascination as it shifted and expanded, revealing what looked like a series of gun barrels.

…Actually, those were definitely gun barrels.

"I'm going to kill Hermione."

_-_

_Slag it, it hurts! _

His processors faded in and out worryingly, blaring dozens of warnings about system failures and crashes all over his body. Systems had fried in various places, and the casing over the area that housed his Spark had sustained quite severe damage- the front was melted and many of the process boards in that area had been fried, as if been held under a sustained electric shock. His chest was a mass of pain as his receptors informed him of the damage.

Struggling to stand, Wheeljack reflected that this had to have been one of the worst days he had had in the last thousand years or so. After taking several Decepticon blasts and crash landing a long way off his original course, he had then been subjected to extreme pain from some form of Earth technology. His weapon whirling, he faced down the opponent who had presented himself- a scrawny organic who didn't come past the mechanic's knee in height, and who looked so unthreatening it was hard to believe his species was the dominant life form on this planet (a _man_, the information he had previously downloaded off the World Wide Web told him).

Though he was loathe to actually shoot the first inhabitant of this planet that he had met, it would have been foolish not to arm himself at all. Though the 'weapon' on his arm was more commonly used to make repairs, it was sufficient to damage the fragile looking organic below him if he needed it to. When facing the barrel of his weapon however, the creature's heart sped up, but it made no attempt to attack or escape. It opened its mouth and spoke a series of words, which his processors immediately began working on.

_English, _they relayed. _A more common Earth language._ After that, it only took him seconds to trawl through the information he had downloaded to learn how to speak and understand it correctly, as it was very simple in comparison to 

that of other worlds, and even other races upon this planet. Once this was done he ran the words more thoroughly through his thought processors, and evaluated them more closely.

"I'm going to kill Hermione."

'Hermione' meant very little to him, but the word 'kill' registered clearly enough. _It's odd that it would threaten me now, after stopping his weapon from killing me only moments ago, _Wheeljack wondered, becoming more and more curious by the minute. He was under no illusions that he was in a potentially dangerous situation, and that he hurt in process boards he hadn't even known he had, but- But-

_What a fascinating creature! _

The Autobot took a step forward curiously, only to freeze when the man lifted an arm in response. There was a long, carved item held in his hand, and the closest reference he could find for what it was, what with all his external communicators now being disabled, was that it could possibly be a stick.

The man made no attempt to use it as a weapon however (not, Wheeljack inwardly scoffed, that it would do a lot of damage), but said instead, "One more step and I'll have to bring the barrier back up. I don't want to kill you, but I'm not going to stand here and get stepped on or shot at either."

Wheeljack considered the organic. _Not __a threat unless threatened?_ he wondered briefly, before a red haze descended down over his optics. _Oh no…_

The last thing he saw was a flashing warning sign reporting imminent shut down.

-

"I've been slagging slagged!" Thundercracker declared as he struggled with his unresponsive limbs. Stood nearby, Skywarp sniggered as he watched the Decepticon attempt to arrange himself so he could stand up on the sand. Further away, Sunstorm stood by himself, staring out into the distance.

"As unimaginative as ever with your insults I see," Barricade noted as he paced towards them.

"Barricade!" Thundercracker replied. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Collecting the scrap apparently," he replied. He glanced in the direction of Sunstorm, who hadn't turned at his approach at all. "What's up with him?"

"What isn't up with him?" Skywarp snickered, before a glare from Barricade made him stop. "He's been downloading fleshy rubbish to his processors," he answered with a grimace. "He's been quoting something about 'Hyperion' from the moment we landed."

Barricade snorted derisively. "Seekers- all of you are as useless as ever. You couldn't even complete your assigned missions successfully. Didn't Soundwave tell you _not_ to allow any Autobots through to earth?"

"How was I supposed to do that?" Thundercracker demanded furiously. "It was practically a suicide mission! I was on my own against two Autobots! And one of them was Prowl!"

Barricade's optics narrowed as his processors evaluated this. Not letting the others see his hesitation however, he immediately replied, "It probably was. After all, I doubt it escaped Soundwave's attention that your glorious leader Starscream is oddly missing from your number."

"What's that got to do with me?" Thundercracker insisted. "And at least I made it back in one piece after fighting against two Autobots, unlike someone who was scrapped after meeting with only that short-afted bot Bumblebee! If Soundwave hadn't fixed you, you'd still be out hiding in the squishy city as a _cop car!"_

Barricade snarled at the reminder, and took several long strides which carried him closer to the Seeker. "As if you're in any position to be mouthing off," he shot back. "I notice that it isn't just you here now Thundercracker! What are the rest of these cowards doing here on earth?"

Skywarp shuffled uneasily. Sunstorm appeared not to have noticed the sudden tension.

"None of your business!" Thundercracker retorted immediately. "Seekers mind their own! And no one else!"

"It's funny, I think Starscream had a dose of that," Barricade remarked dryly. "Which is why both he and you will be on the scrap heap soon enough."

Thundercracker scowled and there was a whir over the soundless desert as a weapon began to charge.

"Idiot," Barricade scoffed. "Are you really going to try and engage me in battle? It seems the Autobot knocked about more than your casing when you fought."

_\\Barricade, report. Destination has been reached? / _The dry, mechanical voice filled his communication channel quite suddenly, making the mech frown.

The three seekers, their sensors reading that he was receiving a transmission, fell silent.

_\\They are here/ _he replied, his tone stiff.

_\\Hurry them back to the base, /_ came the command. _\\Confirmation is needed of their reports. Also, calculations indicate the Autobot Prowl will be landing nearby. Other Autobot envoys are expected. Optimus Prime must not receive knowledge of our total number!/_

_Wonderful, a convoy of Autobots heading in my direction, _Barricade grumbled to himself.

Personally though, he thought that hoping to hide their number was pointless. Prowl had already seem Thundercracker, and where one of the Seekers went the others were sure to follow- unless, of course, it was a potentially dangerous situation for them; at that time, not one of their afts would be seem for miles.

_\\Your opinion on the Seekers is irrelevant/ _his com reminded him, and Barricade felt his thoughts churn wildly. This mech's abilities were unbelievable. And also extremely annoying.

If Soundwave had picked up that thought as well though, he chose not to give any sign.


	3. Chapter Two: The Autobot Wheeljack

_**Disclaimer:**_ I don't own these characters. Obviously. They belong to their owners respectively, and have been mashed together only in this odd fanfiction you see before you.

_**IMPORTANT AUTHOR NOTE: **I apologise to big/huge Transformer fans. It will become startlingly obvious I know very little about anything which doesn't occur in the movie as the story progresses. Please, feel free to give me more accurate character profiles, etc as I continue. _

_**NEW MATERIAL!**_ Well, I'm sure you'll notice as you continue. This story has been revamped! Enjoy the new-ness, the extra's, and the added backstory, which was really bothering me.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO:  
**The Autobot Wheeljack

"One more step and I'll have to bring the barrier back up. I don't want to kill you, but I'm not going to stand here and get stepped on or shot at either."

Harry said this as calmly as he could. He wasn't afraid (too many other strange things had happened to him for something like this to affect him badly), but exhilarated instead. _Technology like this! I'm going to have to check out the Muggle world more carefully!_

Then, all of a sudden, the optics regarding him closely dimmed. He only had a second of warning before the robot collapsed back onto the ground. The resulting crash knocked Harry off his feet and he landed painfully on his side, jarring his elbow. For a second he lay there in surprise, staring at the unmoving machine.

_What happened? Did it- Did it take too much damage?_

Approaching the robot cautiously, Harry wondered if he ought to be grateful for that. At least now there wasn't a cannon pointed at his face.

He wandered around the massive bulk, staring at it in amazement. His apprehension forgotten, he drew up close towards the face, and at last the scale of the robot could be seen clearly. Unless he climbed onto the chest, he wouldn't be able to see the top of the face properly; the thickness of the head brought it up to his chest in height (it didn't help that he was a little shorter than most anyway). At this close proximity, Harry could make out every moving part in the jaw structure. Reaching out, he ran a hand over the metal face-plate and was surprised to find it warm to the touch. Actually, it even seemed to hum beneath his fingers. Electricity? No… something else.

"Amazing," he murmured. _I wonder what this power is..?_

Closing his eyes, he reached out to Sense it. There wasn't enough magic in the technique to harm the robot- at least not any more than had already been done by the wards. He felt guilty. Only to then he feel surprised by his own guilt. It wasn't _real_. But, even if it wasn't, he still felt bad about it, if only for the fact someone had obviously worked extremely hard to make this robot, and his wards had ruined it.

A tendril of magic reached out to touch the armour through his hands. Immediately, he seemed to sink into it, much faster than he had earlier at the pond.

_A strange material, one he didn't recognise. The molecules held tightly together now, but were filled with an odd buzz. The ability to change._

_**But where did it come from? What gave it this ability? **_

_Deeper, deeper, under the casing to the process boards. Lined with complicated components and mixed in with the cables. Each cable working like an artery or vein for a glowing liquid, warm to move through, filled with that energy. _

_**Follow it to the source. Move through the cables, track it back, hunt it down. **_

_Then, suddenly, something that glowed brighter and hotter than anything. Like a tiny sun held in a nest of metal. But not ordinary metal. No, no. Living. It_ was_ life. He was looking into the very soul of the robot!_

_**Reach out to it. To touch it-**_

Harry jerked his hands back. The temptation tingled through his body, and only the odd feeling that such a thing shouldn't be done stopped him from making that plunge into the robot's… The robot's soul.

_Alive! Impossible!_

But it wasn't. He was standing next to a robot, only it was actually alive. A living thing made from metal. _Like Dumbledore's statues, _Harry thought, remembering back to the end of his fifth year, when the Headmaster had brought alive the statues in the Ministry to protect him from Voldemort's curses. The only difference was, this hadn't been done with magic. Well, not any that he recognised. Could this really be Muggle technology? If it was, it was the top secret kind that normal people weren't supposed to see.

_What if it dies?_

The sudden thought surprised him as he had only just come to terms with the idea that it could be a living thing. But once he had thought about it, he couldn't stop thinking it. _What if it dies because of me?_

Harry had no one to call, and no idea what to do. Removing his wand from his pyjama sleeve, he considered his options. Thinking of small magic to use, he wondered if a simple _reparo_ would even work on something this complicated. Or would he be better using some spells like those a medi-witch might know? Not that he knew many anyway…

"Damn it!" Harry cursed to the empty night. "What good is having magic, if it never does anything useful?"

Thinking over everything he knew, Harry recalled something he had read within his Greek spell book. That actually, there aren't thousands of types of magic like there are spells. The words are only there to let the wizard know how he needs to direct the one type of magic that is inside himself. When you move onto wordless spellcasting, you normally use magic your body knows the patterns to to start with. The idea is to eventually be able to get your magic to do whatever you want from it without the use of words, only intent.

"Only intent," Harry muttered to himself.

Gingerly, least he cause any more damage, Harry climbed up onto the arm so he could see properly onto the the chest. Here the damage the wards had caused was most obvious, as the metal was twisted and buckling in places as if it had been melted by an extreme heat. He had never seen the wards do anything like that before, even on that occasion when he had lost his temper and thrown a bunch of electronic goods through them deliberately to see their boards get fried. He had a theory however, as his magic had lead him directly to that spot when he had used Sensing to check the robot's condition. The wards had attacked the robot's soul.

_Fix it, _he told his magic. _Reverse the damage. _Pressing his wand up against the damaged plating, he said softly, "_Reparo." _

He aimed his magic for the plating rather than the delicate parts underneath, not feeling nearly brave enough to try and piece them together with the spell. Under the magic's influence, he watched the melted metal smooth out and then inflate like a balloon from where it had previously dented inwards. However, he felt magic still leaving his body through his wand, but rather than panic over what it might be doing, he kept his thoughts fixed on repairing any damage.

After a strained thirty seconds, Harry felt his magic use lessen considerably, then finish altogether. He was relieved- it had never taken him that long to cast a spell before, although holding up a Patronus came pretty close. He ran a hand over the now smooth chest plate and felt the warmth coming from the middle of it. It wasn't like a human heart, he couldn't feel a pulse of any kind. Curiously, he shuffled back a little before laying his ear against it.

No pulse.

Well, at least not like his own. There was the click, click of machinery as he listened. And actually, the plating felt quite cold to the touch everywhere but this one spot, which furthered his belief that this was the very heart of the machine.

"You know," a loud voice told him, "cuddling is generally reserved for members of the same species."

Harry's head whipped up to stare at the origin of the voice. Glowing blue eyes were staring at him curiously from a head that was lifted slightly off the ground by the thin, robotic neck. Shocked by both this and the announcement, Harry couldn't help but let out surprised gasp, before he slipped on the smooth metal in his haste to shuffle back and found himself falling to the ground.

In one quick action a metal hand moved to intercept his fall. It curled around him as the robot creaked into a sitting position and then onto its feet. Harry's hand tightened around the wand he held, but he refrained from casting a spell. Once it was steady on its feet, the robot lifted its hand and squinted its blue eyes at him, grey eye-brows drawing together above them.

Then, something surprising happened. "You are… a human being. A male of your species." It was the same voice from before, both loud and extremely mechanical, yet accompanied with a tone and pitch that was oddly human. And was that a… slightly Northern accent?

Harry didn't really have a chance to examine the voice too much, as he nearly fired a spell off in surprise when he saw the lips moving. As it was his wand merely shot out a dozen red sparks.

The robot turned its optics to it, and the eyebrows inched upwards on the metal face. "Fascinating. That is a weapon then. But I do not recognise it from the data banks in my memory. May I examine it?"

The dark haired wizard opened his mouth, before snapping it shut again, not even a squeak emerging.

The giant face frowned. "Do you not understand? I believe this language I am using is English, your native tongue. Is that correct?"

"You… You can speak English?" Harry asked at last, but felt embarrassed afterwards at saying such an obvious thing. He couldn't think why he felt so inadequate though- it was only a robot, even if it did speak so well.

"I was capable before as well," the robot told him. "I had time to process a number of Earth languages before coming to your planet, one of which is English. I could speak to you in Latin however, if that is what you would prefer. I noticed you using that language a few minutes ago."

The teenager blinked. So now the robot could speak English and Latin. _'To process a number of Earth languages'… _Harry frowned. He noticed the direction his thoughts had taken, but shook his head. Something like that… Well, surely….

"Erm, where are you from exactly?" Harry wondered whether he could ask a robot this, but… Well, it talked a bit like Hermione when she was dictating an essay. Only male.

"Cybertron," the robot answered immediately, using his free arm to gesture upwards vaguely.

"Cybertron," Harry mouthed silently, turning the unfamiliar word over. "Is… Is that a company, or something?"

Blue optics turned to stare at him. "You don't know what Cybertron is?" the robot demanded.

Harry shook his head. As far as he knew the word was unfamiliar to him, but then he was a little behind in muggle news.

"Am I to assume then that you haven't heard of Decepticons or Autobots either? Nor of the AllSpark?"

"Not any of it," Harry confirmed.

There was a minute pause as the robot considered. "So, we're living amongst the humans in secret," it muttered (at least, Harry assumed it would have been a mutter to other robots, but to him the voice was too loud for it to work effectively). "That should have been something Prime mentioned in his transmission."

"So… You're not something made by humans then?" Harry hazarded to ask, but he could already tell by the sinking feeling he got in his stomach what the answer would be.

It was the robot's turn to blink. Then, in a sudden movement that had Harry reaching for his wand, the robot threw back its head and emitted a huge booming noise. The hand holding the wizard shook, and he briefly wondered whether he was in any danger before he realised it was laughing. The robot was laughing at him.

The robot moved again, this time stooping forwards so Harry's face was close enough to only really take in the moving jaw and glowing eyes. "Do I look like something a human could make at their current level in technology? I'm millions of years too advanced for that. You've mistaken me for some sci-fi movie robot," it continued. Then, in a reminiscing tone, the robot added, "I saw some of those movies before I entered the atmosphere- most of them were complete slag." The grey head moved backwards again and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. "I, on the other hand, am alive- an autonomous organism- perhaps not in the same way as you would perceive of other humans, but a sentient being all the same. In your language, my name would most closely translate to Wheeljack."

The wizard stared at the rob- Wheeljack- before him in amazement. "You're from space? Cybertron is another planet?"

The robot studied him. "Perhaps this is surprising for you. The knowledge I downloaded suggests the general human populace is divided over believing in the existence of life beyond your own planet, though that is rather egotistical of you all."

Harry blinked at this summary. _Was_ he surprised by this alien being? Was it really so hard to believe, when things that had been told to him in fairytales before he turned eleven had been proved to be true when he became a wizard? _Perhaps not, _he thought.

"Alright, I believe you," Harry said, "but what are you doing on earth?"

"I am answering a call from my Commander, Optimus Prime," the Autobot replied.

"On Earth?" Harry asked, startled. It seemed there were a great many secrets hidden on earth- _big_ well kept secrets at that.

"I was able to send a brief communication to the Commander before my link was cut off, so he knows to look for me," Wheeljack said. "However, there may be more Decepticons in the vicinity as well, and I will need to get moving towards the other Autobots. Optimus Prime sent his transmission from a land mass you humans call America. That is my destination."

"America?" Harry said in surprise. "But that's miles away! Across the sea as well!" He stared up at the robot for a long moment. "There's no way you'll be able to get to America looking like that. I don't think people would react well to seeing something like you heading in their direction!" _I know I wouldn't. _

"I doubt anyone could stop me if I wanted to get there," Wheeljack scoffed.

Harry frowned at him and attempeted to stand up on the hand. The robot allowed him to do so, flattening his metal palm to provide a stable surface. "You're right," he said, "but how many people would you have to hurt to do it?

The two stared at each other for a long time, judging the other's intentions. "I can't just let you go," Harry said. "I can't let you leave if I think you're going to hurt innocent people."

Though he managed to make his voice impassive, the wizard was inwardly struck by how lame that must have sounded to something in excess of sixteen feet high. _I can't believe I just threatened a giant, _alien _robot… I must be officially insane. Hermione was right after all._

Still, the fact remained that this 'Autobot' was very dangerous. It might be well out of his scope of expertise, but he couldn't let it just walk away to do whatever it wanted with the rest of the human populace. Even if he did get blown to pieces in the attempt.

Well, that at least _that_ was something he was used to.

The robot's face crinkled and, for the second time that night, Harry made the robot erupt into fits of laughter. "Well, you're an odd creature I'll give you that! Perhaps the survival instinct imbued in most sentient beings isn't present in homo sapiens?" The last sentence didn't sound so much like an insult, but an honest, amused question. "At any rate, I think you're interesting enough to keep."

It took Harry an instant to process that comment. "Excuse me?" he asked at last, falling back on the good manners the Dursley's treatment had somehow imbedded into him, and still appeared when he was extremely surprised.

"Like I said kid –kid _is_ right, isn't it?- I think I'll take you with me," Wheeljack explained, looking extremely amused as he nodded his robotic head decisively.

"I- Err-" the wizard struggled for an instant.

"I understand why you might hesitate," Wheeljack said, "but your help would be greatly appreciated. I need to reach America by some means, and I cannot currently do so on my own. My ability to send and receive transmissions has been impaired, and I don't have any tools with me to fix it. Without access to an Earth satellite positioning system I confess to being completely lost on this planet. Furthermore, seeing as how you claim humankind has no knowledge of Autobots, it would be unwise to leave you here, as you are a threat to our secrecy-"

"As if anyone would believe me," Harry muttered.

"-and I should probably take you to the Commander so he can decide what is to be done with you," Wheeljack concluded.

_What should be _done_ with me? I don't like the sound of that! _Harry thought. At least magic had had some affect on the robot, which meant he wouldn't be completely defenceless if things went badly.

Seeing that Harry was uncertain what to think of his previous statement, the Autobot added, "Besides, this way you'll be able to keep me out of the other human's way. Not that I would hurt them anyway- you're confusing me for some pit-spawned Decepticon."

Harry frowned. _That's the third time he's mention something called a Decepticon. Why do I get the feeling there's more going on here than he's telling me? _

"What will you do if I refuse?" Harry demanded, meeting the glowing optics squarely.

The Autobot looked stumped by the question. "I'm not sure," he answered honestly. "I hadn't thought that far ahead."

It was Harry's turn to be surprised by the honesty in that comment and he almost laughed. It sounded very much like something Ron might say. "Alright," he said, before he had even realised he had started talking. "I'll go with you."

Rather oddly, Harry thought he wouldn't of had it any other way. It was pretty boring living like a muggle anyway, and he had always wanted to see America. _And it's also because- _Quickly, the wizard stamped the thought down and away. That wasn't the reason _at all_.

"Do you not need more convincing?" the Autobot queried, sounding disappointed. "I have already taken the liberty of preparing over sixty other reasons you should endeavour to make yourself useful. Will they not be needed now?"

"Erm, no, that's alright," Harry told him. "But I know what you can do…" He trailed off, wondering how to word the question. At this point another thought had crossed his mind- he had no idea how to get to America with a giant robot. Was there even a magical solution? "Er… I don't suppose you could look any… less obvious, could you? Well, maybe smaller?"

The robot made a noise Harry passed off as a derisive snort. "I may be damaged, but I will still be capable of finding an alternate form to travel in. Now tell me, what is the fastest vehicle you have on this planet?"

* * *

Thanks to everyone who has written reviews saying they like the new version! This chapter doesn't have a lot of extra material, but I hope it still keeps you entertained as I work through the next one. Also, it was great hearing what pairing some of you thought up! I had a lot of call for Sam/Bee when they come into it, and also Harry/Wheeljack. To be honest, I haven't decided on anything yet, so I still don't mind ideas about it. I was quite sad that none of the Decepticons got any love though... Sorry, I can't help but grin as I write that. I really wonder what you might all come up with.


	4. Chapter Three: Problems

_The Autobots don't do toasters, but if they did, they'd be the best toasters in the universe.  
_xSorry everyone. It just sprung to mind… If you type in Carlsberg on YouTube, you might get the joke

**_DISCLAIMER: "_**Write for fun, not for profit!" say many fanfiction authors.

* * *

"What has that got to do with anything?" Harry asked. The truth was, he had no idea about the speed of anything other than a broomstick, and he doubted that information like that was what Wheeljack wanted.

Carefully, Wheeljack lowered his hand to the ground and Harry took that as his cue to step off it.

"When we arrive at a new planet," Wheeljack explained, "depending on the type of inhabitants, we Autobots may have to hide from sight. If the species is advanced enough, we can blend in by scanning their technology and disguising ourselves as a piece of machinery or a particular vehicle."

Harry frowned as he considered this. "So, you could become a car, or a toaster, or something?" He decided not to worry about the implication that Wheeljack had visited possibly hundreds of other planets with life forms on them for now.

The Autobot folded his arms across his chest. "I assure you, I did not travel millions of miles through space to become a device which heats bread, but yes, that is correct. Now, a vehicle form would be best I think. Its function as a method of transportation would be useful."

_In the Wizarding World, a car would only slow a wizard down…_ Harry thought privately, but decided to keep that to himself. Inwardly cursed himself for being so dependent on those methods, and wondered why over the last six months he hadn't bothered to get a driver's licence. Or a car for that matter. "Well, there's a motorbike in the garage. I'm not _qualified, _but I can drive it."

"A _motorbike?_" Wheeljack wondered aloud, scanning his downloaded files quickly. "…I suppose it'll do for now."

"I'll bring it out the garage," Harry told him. "Erm, just wait here." _Try not to blow yourself up while I'm gone… _

He was back within a few minutes, and he wheeled Sirius' old motorbike in front of the Autobot.

Wheeljack watched his progress curiously. "The motorbike is not affected by your defence system," he noted, blue optics narrowing. "Why is this?"

"I took it down," Harry told him. "It looked like it was killing you."

Wheeljack stared at him for a long moment in silence. "I am grateful for that," he said at last. One hand came up to touch his chest plate and for a moment Harry wondered if he ought to be thinking up an excuse to explain how it had been fixed. But then the robot dropped his hand and asked instead: "You still haven't told me what technology your defence system is made from though. It's very advanced, though I don't understand why you would require a shield against electrical products. Scans tell me your house is full of them."

"Oh," Harry said, frowning, "that's not what it's for. The wards are supposed to protect me from anyone who might want to, err, cause bodily harm." _By preventing unauthorised magic users from casting spells,_ Harry added mentally, but hesitated from saying it out loud.

Then again, would it really matter if he told an _alien_ that he was a wizard? It was possible that Wheeljack wouldn't think anything of it- after all, how would he know there was anything different about being one? He'd never been to earth before after all.

"But I am not a human, and I had no intent to cause you any harm. Indeed, I was not even aware of your presence," Wheeljack pointed out in response to Harry's reply.

It figured that a robot would be so smart. Wheeljack reminded him far too much of Hermione's book smarts, only with a dash of that insane genius he had come to associate with the Weasley twins before the war.

"What it does to electrical goods is a side-effect," Harry explained. "That's why you were hurt." _I think._

"Do all humans have such _wards_?" Wheeljack asked, testing out the new word.

"Erm…" Harry trailed off, uncertain how to respond. "Not quite like mine I guess. One of my friends made them especially for me to use."

"I see," Wheeljack said, though Harry could tell that he still had more questions to ask. "And that is the motorbike?" he asked, surprising the teen with the sudden topic change.

"Oh, yeah," Harry said. "It used to belong to my godfather."

"It doesn't look very fast," Wheeljack lamented.

_But it _can _fly._ "Well, it should get you to America without looking too suspicious. And it's faster than it looks."

"I'll take your word for it," Wheeljack said, and a flash of blue raced along the bike, from the back tyre to the front. "Now stand back a little. Let's see what this feels like on!"

All at once the Autobots appearance exploded outwards, changing into thousands of shifting parts. Harry stared in disbelief as the robot folded in on himself, forming new coloured panels that covered his body. He shrunk steadily downwards, until he began to form the shape of the motorbike. The process was amazing to 

watch, something that definitely rivalled anything Wizardry might have been able to pull off, and would probably blow Professor McGonagall's socks off if she ever saw it.

After a few seconds more, there were two motorbikes sat side by side in his garden.

"It's a bit small," Wheeljack commented.

**CHAPTER THREE:  
**Problems

"_Who's that mommy? Is he going to buy that pretty owl?" _

_Harry jumped at the voice from behind him. He tore his gaze from the snowy white owl sat in the cage to look at a young woman and a small child, both of them with light blond hair. _

_The small girl tugged at her mother's sleeve. "But I wanted it," she stage-whispered. _

_Harry laughed a little at the mortified expression on the woman's face. "It's alright," he said, "I was only looking. I don't think I'll get another owl this colour." _

"_You mean it? Then I can have it after all?" _

_Harry tipped his head to give the five year old a reassuring grin, his black hair shifting across his forehead. "Of course you can. There are lots of other owls here that I could get." _

"_So can I, mommy?" the girl questioned, glancing up to her mother again. "Mommy?" she asked, confused by the odd expression that had suddenly crept over the woman's face. _

_Harry noticed it as well and the smile fell from his lips. _

_She looked terrified, her eyes wide where they fell on his forehead. _

"_Mommy? The owl?" _

"_No honey. Not today," the woman said quickly, shushing her daughter's protests. "Come along, it's time to go." Without hesitating, she picked up her daughter and ducked her head once in Harry's direction as an apology. "Excuse us, Mr Potter." _

_Then she was gone, her steps quick and hurried, so eager was she to get away from the Saviour of the Wizarding World. _

Harry woke up suddenly, the memory fresh in his mind from his dreams. For a long moment he lay there, staring at the white ceiling above his head, his stomach churning as he replayed the expression on the woman's face.

_I know you're a murderer,_ it had seemed to say. _Surely, someone so powerful…_

With a frustrated sigh, Harry forced himself to think of something else.

That hadn't been the only unusual dream he had had the night before. At some point, he had also imagined that a giant alien had crashed into his garden and told him he had to take it to America. At least, he supposed, he was finally having average, weird dreams, just like everyone else.

_This isn't my bedroom ceiling, _he thought suddenly.

So… _Why_ was sleeping on his couch, and why was there a giant, blue eye looking in at him through his living room window?

With a start, Harry jerked upright and looked again at the blue eye, which blinked at him.

"Took you long enough," a loud voice rumbled. "Do all humans take so long to recharge?"

_It wasn't a dream. There really are giant, alien robots, and one of them did fill in the pond I spent over six hours digging out,_ Harry thought to himself. _How the hell do I get myself into messes like this?_

- - -

**Tranquillity, United States**

If someone had told Samuel Witwicky a month ago that he would have a hand in saving the world, he probably would have had one of a dozen sarcastic replies ready to dissuade them from the idea. That was, of course, if his unassuming appearance hadn't been their first clue.

Despite this, through a series of coincidences which had probably been building up since the Witwicky family first decided their family motto would be "No sacrifice; no victory", Sam had become a key player in a civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons which had spanned millions of years.

Luckily for him (and also Earth), the Autobots had been the victors of the last battle between the two sides, and now all Sam had to do was lie back and try and catch a few hours sleep in his own bed. However, over the last month, this had proved to be easier said than done.

Rolling over, he glanced at the alarm clock, which stated in bright green letters that it was four thirty in the morning. Moaning in annoyance, he buried his face in his pillow. It had been like this ever since that day.

His girlfriend Mikaela had also complained of sleepless nights, though hers had been caused by nightmares about some of the things she had seen. Those were fading now, and no doubt she was fast asleep right at this very moment.

Sam wished he could say the same thing.

A sudden twinge in his head made him frown, and he realised he'd done it once again.

The 'it' in question was something that had been bothering him for the past couple of weeks. At first he had been able to ignore it, but the effects had been getting worse recently, causing moments of embarrassment when people called him out on his odd behaviour, or accused him of becoming as pill-obsessed as Mojo when he could be seen swallowing back an aspirin every few hours.

It was infuriating, the way his mind seemed to focus on the most inane things at odd times throughout the day. One moment he would be talking to Mikaela and the next he would see something over her shoulder- it could be anything, even his neighbour's watering can or something equally as pointless- and his mind would spin off out of his control, remembering every time it had seen that thing or person before, with a crystal clear clarity that made Sam think the memory was actually happening that very moment.

And, inevitably, these odd occurrences were followed by headaches, a little like the one he was getting just now.

"No, no, no," he cried, scrunching his hair with his hands in frustration.

"Sam?" an inquisitive voice asked.

Surprised, Sam sat up quickly in bed and glanced towards his bedroom window where the face of a familiar mechanoid was staring in at him.

"Bumblebee," he acknowledged in surprise. Then, his brain snapped into overdrive. "Oh god, Mom's flowers!" Quicker than he had ran from Megatron, Sam dashed across to the window. Bumblebee stepped back obediently to show him the patch of healthy flowers that had all been recently replaced.

"_Flowers in the window- Don't worry be happy!_" Bumblebee's speakers sang in quick succession. He followed this with a thumbs up gesture that still had Sam uncertain as to where he had picked it up from.

"Hilarious," Sam grumbled, "I've got the McFerrin of the Autobot world imitating my mum when she thinks I might have got a date." Bumblebee warbled in reply good-naturedly, not the least bit put off by the insult. "What are you doing anyway? I'm sensing a definite lack of disguise here."

Bumblebee seemed to consider for a moment, before he decided to use his normal voice rather than the radio. "I have received a transmission from Optimus. A new Autobot has landed on Earth."

"Really? Already?" Sam said in surprise. Space was a big place after all; he hadn't been expecting any Autobots (or Decepticons for that matter) to show up for quite some time yet. Actually, now he thought about it-

And just like that, he lost control of his mind. Quite suddenly it took off on its own route through his memories. All of a sudden he was back in his science room at school, and Mr Reed was drawing dots meant to be planets on the black board and explaining the theory of light moving through space in his sleep-inducing, dulcet tones- His dad was setting up a telescope in the garden and explaining that, not so long ago, his great-grandfather would have relied as much on the stars for guidance as he did normal maps and charts. He had scoffed, parroting back the fact that stars didn't do any good- half of them didn't exist anymore, we just didn't know it yet because the light had such a long way to travel-

"Sam, are you well?"

The question snapped him back to the real world much too quickly. Only his hand gripping onto the window sill so hard the knuckles went white stopped him from collapsing backwards.

"Bee…" Sam said, glancing at his guardian, whose optics had narrowed on him worriedly. He straightened immediately and shook his head, ignoring how it pounded even more at the action. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Just, it's a little early, or late… I haven't fully woken up yet. Erm, what were we talking about again?"

Bumblebee looked unconvinced by his words, but fortunately didn't call him out on them. After all, how could he know Sam hadn't been asleep at all?

"Military satellites have already worked out the Autobot's landing position and we're going to pick him up," the yellow mech explained slowly, his voice still catching every now and then.

"Really?" Sam asked, genuinely pleased through the haze that still fogged his mind. "Hey, that's great! Give me a minute and I'll be right downstairs."

Bumblebee nodded, and there was the sound of compacting metal as he folded himself back down into his vehicle mode. Sam was left standing in his room, rubbing his head tiredly. The usual headache was back with a vengeance, and it felt as if it had brought along fifty of its friends as well for a big ol' party in his cranium.

"Aspirin," Sam muttered to himself, rummaging around the room for it desperately.

-

As they drove along the highway leading away from Tranquillity, Sam and Bumblebee were joined by three other vehicles- a Peterbilt truck with a flame design, a GMC Topkick and a search and rescue Hummer. It was lucky it was still the early hours of the morning, or else Sam thought it might have looked a little strange to see the four very different vehicles travelling in a convoy together.

As the Topkick drew alongside to Sam and Bumblebee, the teen waved to Will, who cheerfully returned the gesture. _That man is a machine, _Sam thought moodily. _How can he be so happy at this time?_

On the other side of him, Mikaela was riding in Ratchet, who must have picked her up on the way round. She smiled warmly at him through the window, and Sam felt himself return it, honestly glad to see his girlfriend.

_His girlfriend _Mikaela Banes. At one time, she would have been the last person he would have thought would have glanced at him twice, yet here they were, a month after the excitement had worn off, and still dating. _Totally not a heat of the moment thing, _he comforted himself.

Turning his attention forward again, Sam asked Bumblebee, "Where did this Autobot land again?"

"His name is Prowl," Bumblebee told him. "He landed just outside Mission City. Optimus instructed him to lay low and wait for our arrival."

"Mission City, huh?" Sam said wryly. He quickly calculated the distance in his mind. "Do you mind if I try and get some sleep before we get there?"

"Not at all Sam."

"Thanks Bee," Sam said, snuggling down into the leather seat as best he could. As if on cue it tipped back a little, which made Sam smile. Now, if only he could actually manage to fall asleep-

-

\\How is the boy_?/_ Optimus asked Bumblebee through one of the many Autobot channels.

\\He is recharging/ Bumblebee replied, running a quick scan over the teenager. \\His vital signs appear to be normal./

\\I think it's best you leave that to me/ Ratchet inserted grumpily. \\I want to run a full body scan as soon as I can. Have you noticed any other problems recently aside from his sleeping patterns?/

Bumblebee took the impatient tone in his stride, knowing Ratchet was annoyed with not being informed sooner about Sam's odd behaviour. He always got that way when he was left in the dark about something that was his job to put right. The only thing he hated worse was being asked to use all his skills as a famous medic to fix a scratched paint job.

\\Mikaela noticed that he seemed a little distracted and unable to focus very well/ Bumblebee replied. \\He has also been taking a large number of human medicine called aspirin. They are normally used to treat pains in the body./

\\Hmph/ Ratchet muttered, more to himself, \\that isn't enough to base a diagnosis on, though it does concern me somewhat./\

\\Yet another problem we have to deal with/ Ironhide added. \\Between Sam and Wheeljack, I think you'll have your processors overloaded, Ratchet./

\\That fool/ Ratchet cursed over the link. \\Why did he have to pick _England_ of all the places to land?/

\Indeed/ Optimus reported gravely. \\The President is concerned about what he might have to say to the Prime Minister about this. He and Keller had been hoping to not reveal our presence here for some time yet, but Wheeljack is not the… most _subtle_ of Autobots./

\\What does that mean?/ Bumblebee asked.

\\It means the President doesn't know how to get anyone over there to find him. Even with satellite positioning, it would take quite a few men to track his location- especially once he begins to move/ Ironhide informed the younger Autobot. \\All this politics rubbish is a pain in the aft./

\\We must have faith in our human allies. I am sure they will pull through for us/ Optimus said, his tone offering a soft rebuke of Ironhide's attitude.

\\And what about Wheeljack?/ Ratchet demanded. \\The only faith I have in him is that they next time I see him it will be surrounded by all the things he's blown to smithereens./

* * *

I apologise for the lack of proper punctuation in the section just above, but kept cuttying it out and, in the end, I just thought, well, what the hell? It's staying that way.  
Thanks to all my reviewers, it's good to know you like the revamped version.


End file.
